Beginner Questions (Ask Them Here!)

[CoreyD]

Cigar lighters?
I have gone from expensive cigar lighters to med priced to cheap $12 one from the B &M since I started cigar smoking regularly in October last year went through 3 lighters and all my last lighters stopped clicking/igniting or got lost. Am I using them to much or I smoke more that the average bear if thats the case whats a good lighter , I'm almost thinking of keep getting cheapos but $12 can add up over the year.

[dadof3illinois]

Originally Posted by CoreyD

Cigar lighters?
I have gone from expensive cigar lighters to med priced to cheap $12 one from the B &M since I started cigar smoking regularly in October last year went through 3 lighters and all my last lighters stopped clicking/igniting or got lost. Am I using them to much or I smoke more that the average bear if thats the case whats a good lighter , I'm almost thinking of keep getting cheapos but $12 can add up over the year.

For me, I love the blazer torch lighter. I've never had any issues with the ones I've got and I've been using them for the last 4-5 years now. I think I picked up 3 or 4 way back in a group buy and they all still work great.
I would think you could find some from one of the vendors that advertise here.

[bobarian]

You can get six of these delivered to your door for $12. It will take 4-5 weeks but they are well worth the price. You will not find a better value and they hold up quite well. I am using a couple now that are well over a 18months old.
Dealextreme.com

[emopunker2004]

Originally Posted by CoreyD

Cigar lighters?
I have gone from expensive cigar lighters to med priced to cheap $12 one from the B &M since I started cigar smoking regularly in October last year went through 3 lighters and all my last lighters stopped clicking/igniting or got lost. Am I using them to much or I smoke more that the average bear if thats the case whats a good lighter , I'm almost thinking of keep getting cheapos but $12 can add up over the year.

Ronson Jetlite= $3-5 at your local Walmart or CVS

I was recently given a small humidor. The guy who gave it to me liked to put a shot of rum in the bottom of it to flavor his cigars, I would never do this method myself but that was what he liked. So the rum actually spilled onto the bottom of the humidor and now is stuck in a glob is there anything I can do to get it off? I didnt think that it would be good to use any chemical solutions and just scrubbing it with a wet paper towl did nothing. Is there any way i can save this humidor?

[NCRadioMan]

Sandpaper would be your friend in this situation. Be sure to sand all sides to get the artificial flavor of rum out of the cedar. Re-season and you should be good to go.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by NCRadioMan

Sandpaper would be your friend in this situation. Be sure to sand all sides to get the artificial flavor of rum out of the cedar. Re-season and you should be good to go.

Sorry Greg, but sandpaper is not a good idea with Spanish Cedar. The dust particles are very small and can damage the lungs.

Try rubbing alcohol or Everclear on a paper towel. Dont soak the spot as you can damage the cedar.

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by bobarian

Sorry Greg, but sandpaper is not a good idea with Spanish Cedar. The dust particles are very small and can damage the lungs.

Try rubbing alcohol or Everclear on a paper towel. Dont soak the spot as you can damage the cedar.

Interesting. I've had manufacturers recommend it for stains and lots of mold growth.

I've done it with fantastic results numerous times but I have also worked in a wood shop with no mask too.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by NCRadioMan

Interesting. I've had manufacturers recommend it for stains and lots of mold growth.

I've done it with fantastic results numerous times but I have also worked in a wood shop with no mask too.

Although I have read different accounts, I do not think the dust is actually toxic. But it is more of an irritant than something like pine or oak.

[pnoon]

I think it depends on what a "small humidor" is.
If it is a 75 count or less, I would just buy a new one.

Posted via Mobile Device

[T.G]

Originally Posted by pnoon

I think it depends on what a "small humidor" is.
If it is a 75 count or less, I would just buy a new one.

Posted via Mobile Device

I'm not sure you'll ever be able to get the smell of the rum out of there.

Also, the lower cost humidors are typically constructed from a almost paper thin SC veneer applied over press board, so the stain could easily have penetrated all the way through the entire veneer.

I'd go with Peter's suggestion and, if this is a nice looking humidor, just keep it and use it to store cutters, lighters, matches, punches, etc...

[CigarNut]

Originally Posted by NCRadioMan

...but I have also worked in a wood shop with no mask too.

That explains SOOOO much

Thanks for all the great information. I think i will just try to clean it and use it as storage for my cutters and lighters. It is about a 50 cigar humidor so i dont think it is worth saving.

I have been givin a Donatus Solingen germany cutter. I am trying to find out how Do I sharpen this thing? Do I have to dismantle it? and if so how do I go about doing this? Any info on this would be great. who would have thunk there is so little info for such a great cutter.

Originally Posted by CoreyD

Cigar lighters?
I have gone from expensive cigar lighters to med priced to cheap $12 one from the B &M since I started cigar smoking regularly in October last year went through 3 lighters and all my last lighters stopped clicking/igniting or got lost. Am I using them to much or I smoke more that the average bear if thats the case whats a good lighter , I'm almost thinking of keep getting cheapos but $12 can add up over the year.

Check your local walmart for a Ronson JetLite lighter. These are nice little lighters, light everytime and from asking around and talking with people they last for years. And best of all you can get them for less then 3 bucks. For the price of a bic, they are a steal.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Sherlockholms

I have been givin a Donatus Solingen germany cutter. I am trying to find out how Do I sharpen this thing? Do I have to dismantle it? and if so how do I go about doing this? Any info on this would be great. who would have thunk there is so little info for such a great cutter.

Does it look something like this?


The blade isn't removable.

You could disassemble it by knocking the pivot pin out, but that could destroy the cutter and might require access to a machine shop to properly reassemble.

FWIW - Solingen isn't part of the company name, it's the city where the company is located. Many manufacturers of high quality steel knives, tools and cutlery have been located there for many hundreds of years, and some of the best steel in the country comes out of there. It's both a pride thing and stamp of quality - it's not just German steel, it's steel forged in Solingen, Germany, a step above. All the steel forging companies located in that city stamp Solingen Germany on their product to show it's (superior) origins.

That is exactly what it is. Thanks for the info on what Solingen is. I have been doing some searches on it and have came across allot of sites that make knifes, scissors etc. as well. Well, I was thinking of finding a way of knocking the pins out but that would be a major pain. Is there a way to sharpen the front blade through the V-cut slot? I have seen these cutters go for quite a bit of money, you would think there would be some way to sharpen them. Thanks again for the info T.G.!

[T.G]

No problem, it's a common misunderstanding, I made it myself many years ago too.

I suppose you could knock the pin out with a roll punch but I would worry that the pin could be a press fit and if it is, once you knock it out, the hole will be left expanded, so that when you go to put the pin back in there won't be enough pressure to hold it there.

I've heard some people claim great success with deburring a blade by crumpling up some aluminum foil into a cylinder type shape and then cutting it with the cutter a bunch of times. I tired it once with a cheapie double guillotine, I can't say if it helped any or not, but it didn't hurt it.

[bobarian]

Maybe try a dedicated knife shop? They should have experience sharpening lots of different kinds of blades.

As i stated in the new user thread I've only recently gotten back into cigars after several years off. I reconditioned my old humidor and put a new battery in a digital hygrometer that I had. It was accurate a few years back and thus I did not do a salt test (doing one now). For the few months it has been set up it has been sitting nicely at 69/68RH with 1+/- from time to time.

I had my first terrible experience with tunneling, something that hasn't happened to any of my cigars in my humidor yet. This was on a fresh Oliva G that had only been in the box for about 10 days.

I have read that weather conditions can have adverse effects on the cigar as well. I was smoking on my covered porch during a thunderstorm so it was cool (relatively speaking for a southern summer evening) but humid. The first inch of the robusto smoked well but at about the 2" mark it began to tunnel terribly. So much so that even after two attempts at a relight i was only able to smoke about another inch or so to the point that it had tunneled so deeply that i could not successfully relight it and had to give up. So was it weather, a cigar that was just too moist, or even a combination of both? As I stated i'm doing a salt test on my digital hygro as we speak so in 24 hours i'll come back and state what the actual RH has been.